Looking for books with codeswitching / bilingual characters

[Kathleen]

Hey everyone! I figured this would be a good place to ask for book and/or short stories recommendations by authors who use codeswitching and/or bilingual characters in their work.

Right now, I am teaching a creative writing class for English language learners and encouraging them to write short stories that interweave their own language with English! I have a few examples to show them, such as Junot Diaz, who writes in English but throws in tons of Spanish in both the narrative and dialogue, and Kevin Kwan, who used several Chinese dialects (Mandarin, Hokkein), etc. in Crazy Rich Asians. I would love to find a few more examples!

I am particularly interested in languages beyond Spanish (those are a bit easier for me to find), but those are welcome too! Thanks very much in advance :)

Kathleen

[Mome_Rath]

Man, that Tolkien, always throwing in Elvish and Dwarvish and expecting us to know what it means! :-)

But seriously, the first book that comes to mind is Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh. Ghosh’s lascars (sailors) and fugitives speak a motley medley of South Asian languages, mixing Hindustani words in with English effortlessly. The book even comes with a dictionary in the back.

If you’re looking for books for younger or school-age learners, though, Asterix the Gaul by René Goscinny is a short graphic novel unafraid to lean in on Latin humor. There are many books peppered with French phrases as well, though what first comes to mind is Agatha Christie’s Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, who seems compelled to periodically speak French as if to remind readers he is not British (though most assuredly not French either).

I’ll post an update if any other authors/books come to mind. Good luck!

[Kathleen]

Mome_Rath wrote: "Man, that Tolkien, always throwing in Elvish and Dwarvish and expecting us to know what it means! :-)

But seriously, the first book that comes to mind is Sea of Poppies by [author:A..."

Haha I didn't even think of Tolkien...but why not? Sea of Poppies sounds very interesting, I'll check it out! Thanks :)

[Ryan]

Hi Kathleen, not sure if it would suit your purpose but one that comes to mind is For Whom the Bell Tolls. I think it is quite unusual in that Robert Jordan speaks in Spanish but we read the literal English translation which sometimes makes the English a bit weird unless you know Spanish and can tell where it is derived from. Best of luck.

[Rebecca]

Poet X for YA lit and for sci-fi Star Wars Outbound Flight by Timothy Zahn has several sections dedicated to Thrawn teaching characters the Chiss language and them teaching him Galactic Basic. For middle grade Listen, Slowly has both English and Vietnamese spoken by characters throughout the book. If any other books come to mind, I will let you know.

[Cheri]

I recently read A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo, which is a novel (despite the "dictionary" in the title!). It's about the narrator's experience learning English and falling in love and the book is organized by terms she doesn't understand because the Chinese way of saying it is so different. You can see her command of the language change as you go through the book.

[ADelicateReader]

Hi Kathleen, there are a number of diasporic Asian authors that use codeswitching. Off the top of my head:

The Mango Bride (english, tagalog & some spanish)
Soy Sauce for Beginners (singlish)
Fish-Hair Woman (english, tagalog, bikolano & some spanish)

[Flavio]

Kathleen wrote: "Hey everyone! I figured this would be a good place to ask for book and/or short stories recommendations by authors who use codeswitching and/or bilingual characters in their work.

Right now, I am..."

Hello Kathleen,
I’ve just published my first book and could be what you described. The book is a travelog about Morocco Morocco Unveiled: Backpacking Diaries of a European Millennial and all dialogues are in the language they happened.
(For example Spanish in the north, French in the south, English with younger generations, some sprinkles of Arab here and there.)
In the link you can check the description :)
All the best,
Flavio

[Monique]

Flavio,

Oh, wow...your book looks amazing! I love all of those languages and it's so very rare in the US to find multi-lingual books. Can't wait to read yours!

I also went to Morocco when I was living and studying in Seville when I was 21 so I'm particularly interested to revisit it two decades later, even if vicariously through your experiences. Thanks in advance for your work on this book and for sharing it with all of us. I wish you much success!

Cheers,
Monique

[Flavio]

Hello Monique, thank you very much for the interest.
I’m actually looking for readers who can honestly review the book (I’ve just launched it last week!) so if you want, I can send you a free copy.
P.S. Seville and Andalusia best places ever! I started my trip from there :)
All the best,
Flavio

[Monique]

Fantastic, Flavio!! Can you message me and I can give you contact details?